Code Frostbite (STORM Book 1)

by John Darling

  “Search through every room of the house and see what you can find. Turn the lights off in each room after you’ve searched it. We want to advertise as little as possible to those things outside where we are.”

  Jemma, Alexei, and Sierra split up while I decided to stay on the main floor of the house. I figured keeping an eye on the location of the enemy was important, if not the most important job to do at the moment.

  The house was pretty big. Just inside the front door was an open space and above me was a huge crystal chandelier. Ahead of me was a winding staircase that appeared to go all the way up to the third floor, which Sierra and Jemma were climbing right now. To my left was a dining room complete with table and twelve chairs. To my right was another big room with an old TV and several couches. I walked through the dining room toward the back of the house. Looking out the window, I could see two more large groups of zombies approaching. It was clear the four groups were converging on the house. We were running out of time and I had absolutely no idea what we were going to do once they did arrive.

  Jemma and Sierra came running down from the top floors.

  “There’s absolutely nothing we can use, Trevor. Not even a knife. It’s all common stuff you’d find in a house; toys, books, blankets. Nothing that we can use to kill people unless we get really creative.”

  We were going to have to get creative soon if there really wasn’t a single sharp object in this house. Just then the door to the basement flung open. Alexei came running out.

  “Hey, there’s some SCUBA gear down there! Can we use that for something?!”

  Jemma cut in: “How the hell are we going to kill anyone with SCUBA gear?! We need weapons; guns, grenades, something! And we need it now or we’re all going to die! Or fail this evolution! Or both!”

  She got up in Alexei’s face and continued to talk aggressively. “I did not come this far to fail!”

  “HEY!”

  I quickly got in-between the two of them and looked right at Jemma.

  “Arguing is not going to stop them from getting here! We have to find a way to stop them with what we have! That’s the game! If all we have is SCUBA gear, then that’s what we’re going to use.”

  Jemma growled a little but then backed off. I looked around and noticed that Sierra wandered off to the broken front window we used to get into the house.

  “Hey, guys check this out.”

  “Yeah, yeah I know. We’re going to be screwed in only a few minutes.”

  “No, no not that. Look at that light.”

  Alexei, Jemma and I slowly walked to see what Sierra was referring to. There was a strange white glow coming up from the lake. There seemed to be something underneath the water. Something perhaps that we need to get. The wheels in my head kept turning and I decided to give some more commands to my team.

  “OK, here’s the plan. We’re getting the SCUBA gear from the basement and we’re going underwater. I don’t know what’s down there but we’re going to find out.”

  Minutes later the four of us had dragged two full sets of gear up to the main floor of the cabin. Sounds of glass breaking and mild screaming were coming from the front of the house. It caused the four of us to immediately look to see what was causing the noise, and we all stopped working for a moment. The second of the two groups that I had spotted were tearing down the back part of the house. Alexei started to panic.

  “No, this can’t be happening. We’re not ready yet! We need more time!”

  Alexei dropped the two sets of flippers and goggles that he was carrying and started to breathe heavily. I had seen him breathe heavily before, but it had usually been because we were running, not out of fear.

  “Alexei, it’s going to be OK! We need to keep moving.”

  I looked ahead to see how much time we had before the two groups approaching the front of the house got here. Luckily, they were only at the far end of the lake and we still had a few minutes.

  “Alexei. I’m going to need you to put that gear on and dive into the lake. There is something down there and we need to find out what it is. You’re our best swimmer. You can do this.”

  Alexei’s breathing slowed down and we outfitted him with a set of gear. After he was ready, we outfitted Sierra with the other set of gear. Alexei quickly dove into the lake and I grabbed Sierra just before she touched the water.

  “Keep him calm! This is all the gear we have and if something happens to you both, we won’t be able to rescue you. We can have any slip-ups!”

  Sierra nodded her head and disappeared underneath the surface. Since we only had two sets of gear, I had had to quickly evaluate our team’s skills. It had been a no-brainer sending Alexei down there and if we did find something to shoot with, Jemma would get the first crack at it. I had decided to stay up here because if something did go wrong down there, I had the feeling Alexei would more than likely listen to Sierra more than he would listen to me. He cared too much about her not to.

  “What are we supposed to do while we wait?! We have nothing to defend ourselves with! What if there’s nothing down there?”

  Jemma was getting impatient again. There was a possibility that there might be nothing down there but a bright light. But why would there have been SCUBA equipment in the basement then? There had to be a reason why that was the only piece of equipment they had given us. Unless there was something else out here that we had completely missed. I didn’t think that was the case, though, and if it wasn’t, well, there was really no time to look through the trees and grass in the dark. Besides, we’d definitely be in trouble if we went beyond the cabin in the dark with those zombies converging.

  “Just be patient, Jemma. They’ll be back soon. Until then, just stay alert.”

  Several minutes passed and neither Sierra nor Alexei had surfaced yet. The first two groups of zombies had successfully torn their way through the main floor of the cabin and were now coming onto the front porch. The other two groups were coming around each side of the lake and looked eager to rip us apart. Jemma and I slowly backed into the front end of the lake. I noticed that the zombies were avoiding the water so as long we stayed wet, perhaps we were somewhat safe… for now.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Something Bit Me

  Several minutes passed with no sign of Sierra or Alexei. The voice in the back of my head encouraging me to be patient had vanished, creating a nauseating feeling in the pit of my stomach. Jemma and I had backed into the lake as far as possible without fully submerging ourselves under the water. We were both treading water and praying that someone would come to the surface. Some of the zombies had tried coming into the water but thankfully hadn’t made it more than a few feet in. Swimming appeared to have been a skill they lacked. I looked down and could still see the white glow coming up from the bottom. Like a misguided beacon of hope, it was almost ironic that they haven’t come up by now. Either there’s something down there keeping them there, or we’ve lost them. After not seeing them for this long, and the situation worsening around us by the minute, I could only fear that the worst had happened.

  “Jemma, one of us is going to have to go down there if they don’t surface soon.”

  “What good will that do? Either we’ll run out of breath before we get to them or we’ll drown on the way up!”

  Jemma’s optimism was shining through yet again. I wished that in a time like this she could help find a solution instead of pointing out the worst. I took a deep breath and dunked my head underneath the surface. I rotated my body slowly and searched for any sign of life. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see much further than my dangling feet. My lungs would not hold out much longer and I needed to surface for more air. I took one last look and then pushed myself upward. As I did so, I felt something touch me and I immediately turned back. Floating right beneath my feet was what looked like a hand and against my body’s will I swam down for it. Even it was a figment of my imagination, I had to find out for sure.

  I stretched out my arms as far they could reach and frog
kicked while flinging them back against my sides. The hand seemed to disappear and I took two more desperate pulls. The water got darker but for some reason, my eyes made out what looked like fingers once again. With one last stride, I gave it everything I had and reached for them. They immediately brushed up against something and my heart jumped as I felt them. With my other hand, I grabbed the person’s wrist and looked up at the surface. With no breath and my brain screaming at me to get air, I kicked as hard as possible. The person was heavy and it took all of my strength to get them up. The water seemed to be getting lighter and I could tell I was almost there. My vision faded for a split second, driving me to kick faster. I burst through the surface and gasped for air like it was the first time I had ever taken a breath. Oxygen flooded my lungs and I tried calling out to Jemma but she was already swimming over.

  “What happened?! Where’d you go?!”

  She immediately noticed the second person and dove beneath to help bring them up the rest of the way. I finally caught my breath and in a flash regained my consciousness as Jemma pulled Alexei to the surface. I ripped his waterlogged goggles off his face while she called out his name. I smacked his face gently and begged for him to wake up. Jemma held up his oxygen meter, which is at zero. He must have run out of air in his tank.

  “Alexei! Can you hear me?!”

  I was about to smack his face again when suddenly he coughed up a mouthful of water and his eyes shot open. He panicked and I immediately tried to calm him down.

  “Alexei! Look at me! You’re safe!”

  Alexei caught his breath and began looking for something. He reached across his body and handed me a black strap, which I slowly raised to the surface. My mouth hung open as I saw what was attached to the strap… an assault rifle.

  “How did you get this?!”

  Without skipping a beat Jemma took it out of my hands and checked the magazine, switched the safety off and smiled.

  “This will do.”

  She began shooting the zombies near the edge of the lake; the ones that got hit immediately fell one by one, each making a splash as they hit the water. Jemma continued swimming forward while eliminating threats. I turned back toward Alexei and held onto the top of his SCUBA tank for support as we floated.

  “Trevor, you were right. There’s a ton of stuff down there. Most of its buried and hard to reach but there’s more that we can get.”

  Hearing that I had been correct instantly relieved me. Now, we actually had a chance at beating these monsters.

  “What happened to you? Is Sierra ok?”

  Alexei went on to explain that Sierra was fine when he had left her, that she was still working on uncovering supplies. From the looks of what we were up against, we’d need a lot more than one magazine to beat all of these things. Ironically, Jemma just turned around and held up the empty magazine. Alexei also informed me that his tank was empty and he had blacked out just before he reached the surface.

  “I thought I had plenty of air but then all of the sudden it was gone and I began swimming up. Sierra offered me her secondary hose to breathe off of, but I didn’t want to use any of her air so I left her. Just before I lost my air, I felt a thud behind me and in the corner of my eye, I saw a huge fin. I think something bit me.”

  Alexei began unstrapping the SCUBA gear from his body and I questioned his intentions. Without air, the gear was essentially useless. There were two extra tanks in the house but there was no way of getting to them at the moment.

  “Hey, guys! We’re going to need more bullets!”

  Jemma swam back in our direction as the second of the two zombie groups made their way completely through the house. She had put a dent in the first two groups, which helps, but we needed to make more of an impact. However, we were not going to be leaving this lake anytime soon; we were surrounded. As much as I hated the idea and realized the risk, there’s only one way we were going to get out of this.

  “Alexei, I need you to go back down there.”

  Alexei finished separating himself from the SCUBA gear and let it sink beneath the water.

  “Trevor… I can’t go back without air; it’s too far. Let’s just wait for Sierra to come back.”

  I ran my hands through my cold hair and slicked it back. I knew Alexei was a good swimmer; hell he’s the best swimmer in our class. If anyone can do this, it’s him. And right now, if we want to beat these trials, then he’s going to have to fight through this.

  “Alexei, if I could go down there, I would. If Jemma could, she would. But we can’t. You have the skills and breathing capacity it takes to get down there and back. All you have to do is swim down, grab whatever Sierra has uncovered, and come right back up for air. You did it during training in the pool and there’s no doubt in my mind that you can do it now.”

  Alexei again refused to take on the challenge and shook his head, insisting that this lake was far deeper than the pool back at The Eye. He turned his back to me and began swimming for the edge.

  “Alexei we need you! Sierra needs you!”

  He immediately stopped swimming and turned back.

  “She needs you down there. Without you, her work is useless. She can’t do everything. She needs you.”

  Alexei’s eyes widened and I could instantly tell that had I found his soft spot. I slowly swam over to him and looked right at him. As the zombies growled and moaned around us, I reminded him how far he’d come and that he’d made everyone from Commander Knight to his dad proud of him.

  “Okay. Give me a moment to get some air.”

  I swam backward and watched as Alexei took a deep breath and disappeared beneath the water. About two minutes later, he returned. To my delight, he brought up another assault rifle and two magazines. Before I could thank him, he took another deep breath and vanished again. I tossed Jemma one of the magazines and she did what she did best; shoot.

  I loaded my own rifle and took out several zombies. Seeing them cease to be a threat made me feel good and I kept firing until I ran out of bullets, which unfortunately came faster than I wanted. Sure enough, Alexei returned shortly with a belt consisting of four more magazines and, to Jemma’s delight, a sniper rifle.

  “Sierra is almost out of air! We’re only going to be able to make two more trips tops!”

  Alexei pushed the sniper rifle in Jemma’s direction and she swam over to meet it, ditching the assault rifle in the process. I reloaded my rifle as Alexei submerged once again. Hopefully we could take out the rest of these things with whatever else he brought up. It would also have been comforting to see Sierra again. It had been a while since she left, although she seemed fine under the water.

  Jemma quickly loaded her rifle and fired a shot. The bullet had zipped right through two different zombies’ heads at the far edge of the lake when an idea hit me. It was crazy, but it just might have worked. I yelled out to her and quickly caught her attention before she fired off another shot.

  “Jemma! I’m going to clear a path to the porch so you can run up into the house, Get to the roof so you can pick them off for good!”

  As promised, I laid down cover fire and cleared a temporary path for Jemma. Once the zombies had fallen, she swam toward the shallow end and quickly exited the water with her sights set on the house. The remaining zombies turned their attention from the perimeter of the lake to her movement. I watched her step in-between and on top of the corpses and scamper up the steps of the front porch. She entered through what had been the broken window, what was now a huge hole in the side of the house.

  I fired off some more shots at the zombies flocking back toward the house. Not all of my shots hit since it was getting difficult to swim and shoot at the same time. Luckily, I did hit a few before making my way back over to where it was shallow enough for me to stand. I heard a splash behind me and turned to find Alexei at the surface holding something up in the air.

  “We found a K-pack!”

  He swung the pack over his shoulder and secured it to his back. Jemma was
picking off zombies around the lake as I realized what a K-pack could mean. If we ran out of ammunition, we could draw the remaining ones into the house. From there, we could set off the K-pack and destroy what’s left of them as a last resort.

  I walked through the water up to knee level and targeted anyone I could. From what I can tell, there were about thirty of them left and if Jemma kept this pace up, we wouldn’t need to use the K-pack bomb after all. Just then, my rifle clicked and I realized that I was no longer going to be able to kill anything. I slowly retreated back into the water for protection. Jemma continued picking off the zombies one by one. Each one that fell was one closer to victory.

  I looked around and quickly counted the remaining threats. There were only six of them left. Now five, four….three. Suddenly I heard a series of splashes behind me and found Sierra gasping for air at the surface. Her air hose flung out of her mouth and she ripped off her goggles.

  “Help! He’s not breathing!”

  Alexei’s body bobbed up and I rushed back into the lake as fast I could. My muscles were worn out from treading water for so long and I was pretty sure my body temperature had dropped a few degrees but I have to get to him. I helped Sierra drag him over to the nearest edge of the lake and we pulled his extremely heavy body up onto the dirt. Sierra struggled to get out of her SCUBA gear as I quickly unbuckled the K-pack off of Alexei and rolled him onto his back.

  “He stopped swimming halfway up! My tank barely had any air left and he refused to use my backup hose!”

  I put my ear to his chest only to find a complete lack of a heartbeat. Sierra’s SCUBA tank hit the ground and I told her to watch our backs while I tried to bring him back to us. Without hesitating, I lifted up his chin and sent a breath into his mouth. We couldn’t lose him after everything I had done to convince him to go down. Even if we successfully made it through this program, I’d never have forgiven myself if something happened to him. I interlocked my hands and pumped on his chest thirty times praying each one would bring him back to us. Unfortunately, none of them did and I repeated the process.